Yoga- Question.

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yankeefamily05
yankeefamily05 Posts: 657
in Fitness and Exercise
I have started working out on the Elliptical 5 times a week...I have tried doing strength training, but I find that my knees hurt so bad the next day....I have always been interested in yoga...
Now , Can yoga replace strength training, or no?>.What kind of exercise is YOGA?.....If you have been a yoga fan, do u find you get great results?..TIA:)

Replies

  • gabyp0716
    gabyp0716 Posts: 351 Member
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    Hello,
    I love doing yoga. For the best results, you wanna try Power Yoga and even better Hot Yoga (Bikram). Its super intense 90 minutes of hard core yoga in a room heated to 110 degrees. You'll see the pounds melt.
    But I totally recommend you work some Hatha Yoga in there, this is totally going to help you relax and stretch your musles and it will be good for your joints.
    I hope this helps. If you would like more info, you can send me a dirrect message.
    Gaby
  • 123gonnareachit
    123gonnareachit Posts: 69
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    It hasn't helped me lose weight,but it feels so good and it's a very good stretch to do before workouts.

    Try these poses:
    Downward Dog
    Sun Salutation
    Cobra
    Deep Lunges
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
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    I combine Yoga with running. The Yoga is great because it helps me with my breathing and it stretches me out really good. I also feel like it's strengthened my joints and my muscles quite a bit. I don't think it burns much calorie wise but I find it worth doing in combination with my other workouts.
  • jurgitafit
    jurgitafit Posts: 112
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    I love yoga! I'm not sure about the weight loss since this really depends what you're eating and whether you're doing any other exercise, etc. But yoga is definitely worth taking up not as an exercise, but more as a wonderful calming and stretching sessions. If I skip yoga for too many days in a row, my body is asking for it! Yoga gives a light feeling and tones the muscles, so I recommend it for sure! :wink:
  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,786 Member
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    I do yoga 6x a week and do not find it necessary to strength train. For most people, yoga will not burn a lot of calories. Even hot yoga, which raises your heart rate because of the heat, will not burn that many (for the same reason that scary movies do not burn calories, just raising your heart rate isn't enough). This is a roundabout way of saying, don't do yoga as a way to burn calories.

    I was in a class a few weeks back and I admired a fellow students muscles (a woman over at least over 60) - she told me it was all from yoga.
  • yankeefamily05
    yankeefamily05 Posts: 657
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    Im not really looking at yoga for a way to burn calories...I just wanted to now if it could replace strength training...I already run on the eliptical for my cardio:)

    Thanks everyone!!!
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    I love yoga and I have found that it has some great strength benefits, especially with core balance and stability. I think the bigger question might be what were you doing in your strength workout that ended up hurting so much the next day? I feel like that is something that should be addressed instead of avoided. It could be that you have a muscle imbalance that needs to be addressed with some targeted exercises or that you were doing something wonky with your form.

    That said, I think yoga is awesome and should be a part of a well-rounded exercise regime (I need to take my own advice since I haven't practiced in about a month....). It might help with whatever is causing you to feel pain after strength training, but I would work on getting back to strength training without pain, as well. Just my two cents. You'll certainly find a lot of strong, ripped people out there (like Madonna, I think?) who only do yoga and seem to be doing great. (Of course, Madonna also probably dances like, 6 hours a day or something.)
  • MegKat
    MegKat Posts: 23 Member
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    I joined Yoga about 2 months ago. Have I seen a dramatic weight loss yet, No. BUT, I can't even begin to list off all of the reasons it's beneficial. As far as replacing it with strength training, thats up to you. I personally strength train because I enjoy it. Do you want to build bulky muscles or lean sculpted muscles? Remember muscle weighs more, and burns more calories, so I want more muscle! In yoga you are engaging muscles, especially your core, which is a hard place to tone. If you look at most yoga pros they are lean with beautiful muscles. But on top of that for me, it motivates me to be more active and to eat better, I suggest looking into the philosophies as well. But thats just me, I'm still in the Yoga honeymoon phase. Heres an article from Yoga Journal http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/963 - let me know how it goes!

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